Beathoven
Studying the Beatles
(c) Ian Hammond 1999
All rights reserved
I Wanna Be Your Man I finally obtained the Stones' 1963 version of I Wanna Be Your Man on their Singles Collection; The London Years. Few of the tracks on this collection sound like the original versions. The proud crisp mix that made Not Fade Away has been lost. So, the I Wanna Be Your Man mix is probably worse than it was originally.
Like many of their early recordings, the arrangement is rough and ready. Mick manages to make Ringo sound like Sinatra, but at least Jagger sings in the chorus on the recording.
Well, we knew them by then and we were rehearsing, and Andrew [Oldham] brought Paul and John down to the rehearsal. They said they had this tune, and they were really hustlers then. I mean, the way they used to hustle tunes was great: Hey Mick, we've got this great song [done with a John Lennon accent]. So they played it and we thought it sounded pretty commercial, which is what we were looking for, so we did it like Elmore James or something. I haven't heard it for ages, but it must be pretty freaky cause nobody really produced it... but it was a hit and it sounded great onstag'. Jagger RSI46
Jagger sings the song lower (in C Major), with guitars playing the same lick they use on Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown, making the tonic chord sound more like a C11. This is pretty much the same chord the Beatles end the chorus with on ma-han.
The Stones' backing chugs along more like we would expect of I Want To Hold Your Hand. Perhaps the similarity of title and common crudeness of lyric was not lost on the Rolling Stones. Unfortunately the chart position was different. I Wanna Be Your Man reached number 12 in the U.K. It was withdrawn in the U.S. due to lack of action.
The Beatles and the Stones play the same fills in the chorus, suggesting that Lennon/McCartney played them during the demo, or that the Beatles added after the Stones' version before release. That's possible, but unlikely given the recording dates shown below:
Sep10 Beatles show Stones song Sep11 Beatles record take 1 Sep12 Beatles record takes 2-7 "remake" "left unfinished" Sep30 Martin records organ dub takes 8-13 Oct3 Starr adds maraca on takes 14-15 Oct7 Stones record Oct23 Beatles record take 16 Oct29 Mixed from take 16 Nov1 Stones single release Nov22 Beatles release Dec31 Live for Beatles Xmas show
No details are given for take 16 on October 23. The released version includes the organ dub.
What did Lennon and McCartney write when they finished the song off for the Stones at the rehearsal. Did they write the chorus or did they write an additional verse? Here's the lyric for the two finished versions:
Rolling Stones Version:
1. I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
2. Tell me that you love me, tell me you understand
Tell me that you love me, tell me you understand
chorus
solo
chorus
3. Tell me that you love me, tell me you understand
Tell me that you love me, tell me you understand
4. I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
Beatles Version:
1. I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
2. Love you like no other baby, like no other can
Love you like no other baby, like no other can
chorus
3. Tell me that you love me baby, let me understand
Tell me that you love me baby, I wanna be your man
4. I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
chorus/solo
5. I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
I wanna be your lover baby, I wanna be your man
6. Love you like no other baby, like no other can
Love you like no other baby, like no other can
Some say they wrote nothing (McCartney), some a new verse, some a middle eight, some a chorus (Lennon). What most agree on is that the Stones were surprised at how they had finished the song off in their presence. I hardly believe that they would have been surprised at the addition of a simple couplet like tell me that you love me baby, let me understand.
Thus, I plug for them writing the chorus. But, it's also possibly they faked finishing off a song that was already complete. It's also possible that an angel will appear in the next five minutes and grant me any wish I care to make. I would probably ask for a black coffee, a diet-compliant doughnut and a free house clean. And a copy of Watch Your Step -- I still haven't heard that riff. The Stones' verse chord sequence introduces a close on G at the end of each first phrase, which the Beatles never use. The Stones end each second phrase with G7-C, which the Beatles sometimes use.
intro C11 C11 C11 C11
verse C11 C11 C11 G7
C11 C11 G7 C
verse
chorus C!
D G C A7
D G
C11 C11 [C11 C11] Chorus' = 2 bars only
solo (verse) chorus' verse verse octave higher outro C11 C11 C11 C11
In 1964 live performances, the Beatles also use a four bar intro and G7-C equivalent to end the verse. It's possible this is how they presented the song to the Stones, but changed it for the EMI session. I don't have the out-takes for the I Wanna Be Your Man sessions, but it's possible they also played a 4-bar intro which was chopped during mixing.
The Stones' single lasts a one minute and forty seconds, fifteen seconds less than the Beatle one minute fifty five second version. The Stones achieve this goal by truncating as follows (I=Intro, V=Verse, C=Chorus, S=Solo, O=Outro):
VVC VVC S VVC O Beatles
I VVC SC'VV O Stones
The Stones' solo on the verse. The Beatles recorded version solos on a 12-bar stretch of E, and outro's over a repeated E. However, in live performance the Beatles substituted as 12-bar blues for the solo and the outro.
In all live versions the Beatles play B-E to end each verse, which is the same as the G-C cadence the Stones use. In 1964 live versions the Beatles played a four bar introduction. This was dropped in 1965, reverting to recorded version. In the late August Los Angeles' concerts, John and Paul did not sing harmony in the chorus, leaving Starr somewhat exposed as he drops the first man in the chorus.
It's quite amazing how much study I have put into this amazingly simple ditty in the past five years. It's quite amazing how many takes the Beatles took to get this simply ditty right: perhaps they were thinking about the obvious comparisons which would be made with the Stones' version. Which is what I've been doing here folks.